Seeking a New Place to Live

House hunting in a pandemic; would not recommend. 

Especially out of state. 

And during an unprecedented, insane market. 

It's deeply a seller's market, so that's good for us as we are selling our house for exactly what we wanted to get for it, as is, without having to put in time, money and effort to fill holes, update mechanicals, repaint ceilings, etc. The punchlist I had was made completely obsolete when the buyer bought quickly and "as is." 

But on the buying side, it's pandemonium. In our ideal location, it's also the ideal location for families exiting big cities (ie. Philadelphia and New York) as companies are becoming more sympathetic to remote work -- some companies even selling off office space to keep employees working from home. So there's that: lots of buyers looking in this one area. 

Then there's sellers who are hunkered down for the duration of the pandemic. Financially, they don't want to rock the boat and move. Or they see the volatility in the market and don't want to be left on the buying end with no house to move into. 

Not to mention the late winter housing market is general pretty bare, as potential sellers wait until the high season of Spring when they can move in the Summer and not disrupt their kids' school years. 

So in this soup of issues is where we've been swirling around for the last several months. Slim pickings and when a decent listing does become available a bidding war far over asking price ensues and the feeling that the property just isn't worth that amount of money. It won't "appraise out," as they say. 

But I think we got lucky. 

We found a house that's a little outdated and needs some imagination. In a location that's near to shops and grocery. And they took our bid, under asking, to have budget room for all the updates. 

My creative juices are flowing. 

And look at all that property?! 

Inspections start this week so hopefully everything checks out and we can feel good about the purchase and the work that's needed to get everything up to standards. 

And I can start planning all the paint, kitchen updates, flooring, etc. that will make it feel like home. 

More than grateful that we found something that we can at least pursue at this point. 

Moving ... it's not easy during a pandemic -- who knew?!